I'm With You
by LittleCajunLady88
Summary: The Sheriff helps Stiles pick a college.


**A/N:** _I posted this drabble to tumblr (littlecajunlady) on March 22, 2015 and the prompt was, "Hey, I'm with you, okay? Always."_

* * *

The acceptance letters were rolling in, one after the other. Despite nearly dying on several occasions, Stiles had managed to keep his grades up and get accepted to almost every college he applied to. The really hard part wasn't getting in, it was going to be deciding which school to go to in the fall.

Most of the schools he'd applied to happened to be on the east coast. He hadn't really planned it that way … it just kind of happened. What had he been thinking when he'd applied to those schools? Scott was definitely going to stay in California. That was a given. And Stiles's dad would still be in Beacon Hills, except now he would be dealing with all of this supernatural crap on his own. Could Stiles really leave him?

The acceptance letters were open on his desk, and his eyes skimmed over them one more time. He tugged at his hair, utterly frustrated by the mess he'd gotten himself into.

"Hey, kid."

Stiles looked up in surprise to see his dad standing in the doorway. "Hey. How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see you giving yourself a bald spot. What's wrong?"

Stiles frowned and patted his hair down. "I don't know what to do."

He walked over to Stiles and saw the letters on his desk. It was easy to see why he looked so stressed. "Yeah, applying to 15 different schools may have been overkill."

"Now you tell me."

"I told you repeatedly." The Sheriff pulled up a chair and sat beside him. "Have you tried weeding some out? What about University of Florida?"

"What's wrong with that one?"

"It's a total party school," he said as he crumpled up the letter.

"Why did you do that?!" Stiles cried as he reached for the balled up letter, but he was too late. It was already sailing in the air and landing in the nearby trashcan. "Did you ever stop to think that I might _like_ to go to a party school?"

"Stiles, you don't want to go there. You don't want to go to most of these schools. You know which one you want to go to, you always have. So why are you stressing yourself out over this?"

Stiles sat back in his chair. He didn't look at his dad when he said, "I don't think I can leave."

"Why not?"

He sighed. It was going to sound childish and stupid. "Well, Scott's still going to be here. Most of my friends are."

"You know you can't just stay here because your friends are here."

"It's not just that. I mean, with everything that goes on around here, I'd feel guilty leaving them to deal with it all by themselves."

"Don't feel guilty about the decisions they make for their own lives. Haven't you thought about how getting out of here might be a good thing?"

Of course he had. Sometimes he never wanted anything more than to get the hell out of Beacon Hills. There had been too many close calls. It would most likely be very beneficial to his health if he got as far away from there as possible. And yet … Beacon Hills was still home.

"That's it, I'm done," Stiles said, rising from his chair. "I'm taking the year off. I'll work at the car wash. I'm gonna travel. I'm gonna sow some wild oats –"

The Sheriff grabbed him by the shoulder and sat him back in the chair. "Sit down. The only place you're going is to one of these colleges. So pick one."

"Dad, some of these schools are across the country. I can't move that far away! What are you going to do when I –"

"Look at me," he said, making sure Stiles held his gaze. "Don't jeopardize your future because you think I might get lonely. You're going to school."

"Fine," Stiles sighed. "But what if choose the wrong one? What if I show up there and I realize I made a mistake?"

"That won't happen. But even if it does, I know you'll be okay."

"How do you know?"

The Sheriff looked at him fondly. His once hyperactive little kid had suddenly grown up and would soon be going away to school. It was hard to believe. "Stiles, there's no denying that you've put me through the wringer these last few years. I've been angry with you. I've felt like I couldn't trust you. But then I found out what you'd been going through and it all made sense. You've done the things you've done to help the people you care about, and I couldn't be prouder. I just want you know that no matter what you do or how many mistakes you make, I'll be on your side."

Stiles felt a sudden wave of affection for his father wash over him. He swallowed over the lump in throat to ask, "Really?"

"Hey, I'm with you, okay? Always." The Sheriff then went through the stack of letters until he found the one he was looking for. He placed it on top of the others. "That's the one, isn't it?"

Sometimes Stiles forgot that his dad knew him better than anyone. "Yeah."

"Then that's where you'll go."


End file.
